Shimmer
by SephiChan
Summary: The famous Aeris and Sephiroth scene in the City of the Ancients, only with a twist. Please R&R.


My first songfic, this is actually sort of another installment in my own conception of the events of Final Fantasy VII. The first, SephiChan, you may have already read. Don't worry if you haven't; you don't need to to understand this.  
  
Just note that in this fiction, and all those that I write for Final Fantasy VII, you have to take into consideration that Sephiroth didn't actually die those 5 years ago in Nibelheim.  
  
My notes for the reader: I wrote this all in one sitting. Yes, it is a little obscure, but please read and review so I know what you think. The song used is "Shimmer" by Fuel.  
  
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Aeris knelt in the center of the podium at the very heart of the City of Ancients. The heart, hidden away beneath the apparent earth, tucked underground. Surrounded by water, the marble podium shimmered with eerie light. Where did the light emanate from? There was no place it could be generated from, in this underground shrine. But it was there, somehow. That light was the Cetra girl's very being… her aura.  
  
Eyes closed, face composed carefully, she prayed. To the Planet. And as she did so, the voices in her head begin to calm themselves. Voices she had heard for years quieted down to small whispers. The cries of forests, rivers, mountains, relaxed; they allowed the young woman to make her plea. Her wish was only to save the Planet.  
  
"She calls me from the cold  
  
Just when I was low, feeling short of stable  
  
And all that she intends  
  
And all she keeps inside, isn't on the label"  
  
Somehow, somewhere distant, Cloud Strife felt a strange inkling in his very soul. Some sensation in the back of his mind screamed at him. The dream he had had in the city's abandoned inn wasn't entirely fake. No, it was completely real. And Aeris was calling him. Throwing Tifa and Barret but a single wary glance, he pulled himself from the soft bed and began toward the stairs. He had to find the girl.  
  
"She says she's ashamed  
  
And can she take me for awhile"  
  
Through a short expedition, Cloud narrowed down the feeling in his body to a small house in the city. Entering, he explored until he came upon a shimmering staircase that looked as though it should be hidden. Without a word to Tifa or Barret, who had been exploring elsewhere, he stepped onto the first stair and began downwards. Even at the top of the twisting staircase, he could see the light, far below.  
  
Turning, wandering downward, it took but a couple minutes to reach the end of the staircase. "Aeris…" he muttered quietly, allowing his eyes to fall upon the beautiful figure knelt not far away. She had called him there, and he had come.  
  
"And can I be a friend, we'll forget the past  
  
But maybe I'm not able  
  
And I break at the bend"  
  
A rush of emotion hit Cloud, out of no where. The pang of intense sadness made his eyes water, for no real reason. The urge to find the young woman had vanished, replaced by something that hurt… something that stabbed at his existence. He shouldn't be there. No, maybe neither of them belonged there.  
  
He belonged in Nibelheim. That was just it. He should be there, now. He should have always been there. Cloud's eyes hazed over, but Aeris didn't know. She felt his presence, hot before her, but had no idea what war was erupting inside of him.  
  
"We're here and now, but will we ever be again  
  
'Cause I have found  
  
All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade  
  
Away again"  
  
Sephiroth. He was… he was there. Somewhere. That was what wailed at Cloud's emotions; what beat at him inside. It was the cells of Jenova in the powerful ex-SOLDIER screaming at those inside of him. His body would soon be a puppet… what if he could no longer control himself?  
  
The moment was so perfect. Aeris was perfect. If Cloud could somehow preserve this moment in a glass ball, it would be the epitimy of beauty. And he thought he loved her, just then. Emerald eyes finally opened to greet the blonde, smiling. The Cetra was glad that he could come. Her prayer was done. Perhaps the Planet would live.  
  
"Cloud… you look upset." The statement was an obvious fact. He was distraught, plain and simple. His life was running before his eyes, rushing at him. The past was attacking him.  
  
And with the memories, that moment died. It would never be the same again. All that was pure and lovely about that shrine and that girl was gone. He killed it with a single word: "Sephiroth."  
  
"She dreams a champagne dream  
  
Strawberry surprise, pink linen and white paper  
  
Lavender and cream  
  
Fields of butterflies, reality escapes her"  
  
Aeris had hardly even heard him. The Planet was rejoicing so loudly within her, she wouldn't have been able to feel the other man there if she had wanted to. In her head, life was perfect. That simple, beautiful moment still remained within her. She preserved it and nursed it like a small child. It was absolutely everything to her now. If the Planet listened well enough to her, it could prevent the terrible from happening. Sephiroth could not rise to godly power after the collision of Meteor. He would be killed instead.  
  
"She says that love is for fools who fall behind  
  
And I'm somewhere in between"  
  
Cloud had no idea what was happening. Before he knew it, his idle legs were carrying him toward the young woman that he so adored. His mind wasn't controlling him; it was something else, deep within his being. His muscles moved and his face stayed blank, aside from the traces of tears that had once welled up there. But far, far back in his head, his consciousness cried out in pain for him to stop—this was Jenova's command, not his own.  
  
And as he stepped up onto the platform where Aeris still knelt, smiling her light up at him, he froze. One hand tried to take his sword, but his mind hardened. NO. He would NOT let this happen. Emotions battled one another until there was a fatality. He would NOT kill the one he felt so strongly for… and Jenova, for the first time, was repelled. Her will would not be carried out through this shell. So Sephiroth, lingering somewhere in the sanctuary, would have to do.  
  
"I never really know  
  
A killer from a savior  
  
'Til I break at the bend"  
  
A blur of shadow flew up from out of the water, shooting into the air above the podium. It was Sephiroth indeed. And then he landed in milliseconds, his heavy boots slamming against the smooth marble that the others rested upon.  
  
Aeris was now fully aware of the situation. She stood and wheeled around, a delicate young woman staring bravely at a muscular man. Cloud reached forward and took her arm, trying to pull her back, trying to get between the two. But the flower girl would not have it.  
  
"No. The Planet spoke to me. I am the savior… only I can stop it, Cloud." Her words were vague, elusive, and almost meaningless to the blonde. Sephiroth seemed amused, his Mako eyes burning as a gloved hand grasped the hilt of the Masamune.  
  
"That's right. Sephiroth, I will save the Planet. You… I feel sorry for you. I wish you could see what was really happening when you were conceived. You weren't just an experiment… what a horrible thing for a man to learn…"  
  
"Silence!" he roared, hand tightening on the handle. For some reason, he hesitated. No, the reason was known well to both he and Cloud. Jenova was trying to make him act. And as much as his thirsty mind lusted for the woman's blood, he refused to let Mother control him completely.  
  
"Sephiroth," Aeris went on, "you can't succeed. The Planet is much too strong to allow you. Please, put down your sword and go on your way… don't let it be like this. You don't have to let things happen this way."  
  
"We're here and now, but will we ever be again  
  
'Cause I have found  
  
All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade  
  
Away again"  
  
That was the trigger, the final push. Sephiroth had been weak in the mind for too long to fight. Where Cloud had succeeded for the first time, the silver-haired one failed for the first. His sword was instantaneously drawn, and he thrust it through the short space that separated black warrior and white savior.  
  
Aeris felt the blade pass into her body, but she remained expressionless. No blood leaked from her wound… Cloud found it odd. And as he watched, he was paralyzed, either by Jenova, or by his own horrible shock of realizing that the girl would likely die. His dull eyes focused on the blade where it exited her back… and light poured from it.  
  
"It's okay… it's too late for him to win…" Aeris whispered to Cloud, her words weak. "I'll protect everyone… it's okay…"  
  
The sight of glowing white flowing from the Cetra's body shocked Sephiroth, and he withdrew his Masamune quickly. Nearly in Cloud's same state of surprise, he hobbled backwards towards the water he had come from. "Mother… why have you done this to me?" he asked the shadows before sinking into the water and vanishing from Cloud's sight.  
  
The glow of the room was dim now, and Aeris fell backwards into Cloud's arms. Was there no magic to stop this? They sunk to the floor smoothly, and the blonde held his beloved. "Materia…" he managed to mumble, a hand mechanically moving to his other wrist to activate a Restore orb.  
  
"No," Aeris choked. "It won't work… not this time."  
  
And he believed her. The light that leaked from her torso and coated the podium was inhuman… even something a Cetra should not display. But it was happening nonetheless. And now, the podium was the only source of light in the entire shrine, the shapes of the companion's bodies staining the beautiful white.  
  
"It's too far away for me to hold  
  
It's too far away...  
  
Guess I'll let it go"  
  
Aeris's breath slowly stopped, and Cloud knew that was the end. It seemed unreal to him… completely unreal. She had just been alive, smiling, moments ago. Everything had happened too quickly. Now, in his soul where he had had such pounding sensations telling him how to act, there was nothing. Only emptiness.  
  
He laid the young woman's body carefully onto the podium. The Lifestream had claimed her already. There was nothing else to be done. Turning, Cloud began to leave the shrine, just as he noticed Tifa and Barret standing at the staircase. So they had seen enough to know, certainly, what had happened.  
  
The three left the underground mournfully. All they could do now was try to their last breaths to carry out Aeris's wishes, and save the Planet. 


End file.
